# Chapter 16: The Call
Roman had not planned to call her.
That was the part he kept returning to afterward, sitting in his study at nearly midnight with the whiskey going warm in his glass. He had not decided to do it. He had been reading the same contract clause for the third time, and then his phone was in his hand and his thumb was moving, and her name was on the screen, and it was already ringing.
He stared at it.
Her number was still saved exactly as it had been for three years. He had not deleted it. He had told himself that was practical. There were still documents to finalize. A number you might need was a number you kept.
That was what he had told himself.
One ring. Two.
He should hang up. He knew that the way you knew things that arrived too late to be useful. He had nothi
